It might work. Probably not. The main thing is that the battery must be removed immediately. It's electrolysis that does the damage. And it only takes a few minutes. The salt must be removed somehow. It attracts water later. Otherwise electronics are pretty waterproof. Someone might try soaking the unit in ethyl alcohol (not-denatured) for a few minutes before drying...

It might work. Probably not. The main thing is that the battery must be removed immediately. It's electrolysis that does the damage. And it only takes a few minutes. The salt must be removed somehow. It attracts water later. Otherwise electronics are pretty waterproof. Someone might try soaking the unit in ethyl alcohol (not-denatured) for a few minutes before drying...

Good point... all that used that method were fresh water accidents. Still, a number have sworn by it, so maybe there is something to it.

__________________If your attitude resembles the south end of a bull heading north, it's time to turn around.

I've done it and it worked (briefly) lasted a couple more weeks before some of the buttons started to act up - of course that could be attributed to multiple drops as well (I'm rough on phones - lost or broke 15 in 12 months).

The most important thing as stated above is to not try to turn it on and remove the battery immediately. Leave it in the rice for at least 24 hours.

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Re: Rice for soaked electronics???

I drop phones in the oggin with appalling regularity. In fact in general the time I keep a phone is generally regulated by when it gets dropped into the sea.

I dropped my current Nokia N900 in the bludy BILGE a month ago (that's a first). I dove right in while one of my guests held me by the ankles -- it must have been a funny sight.

I immediately took out the battery, rinsed everything in fresh water, shook out as much water as I could, and put the phone under a hair dryer on low heat setting.

I applied the hair dryer once or twice a day for several days and the phone eventually came back to life. The touch screen was the last part of the phone to work properly.

It has now been working flawlessly for a few weeks. As if nothing ever happened. I'm pleased about that since the phone is less than a year old and I don't like buying expensive smartphones more than every 18 months, at least.

I have had worse luck with phones dropped in salt water (I think the bilge water is mostly rain water). I think the time of immersion is very important. I suspect that as one of the above posters said -- immersion in salt water with the battery in will quickly lead to destruction through electrical leakage.

Pull the battery immediately, then break the phone down as much as you can, slosh it in fresh water repeatedly, shake it dry and then use a blow dryer on it. The guys that do RC battleships sink their servos and receivers all the time and if too lazy to seal them in plastic just open the covers and blow dry after shaking out as much water as they can.

You gotta get rid of the salt asap. As an afterthought why doesn't anyone ever put the thing on a lanyard?

I sail and surf in Hawaii and have on multiple occasions submerged my phones. Rice totally works... Usually. You've got to get it into the rice quickly and it also seems to depend on how long and how deep the phone was under.

Pull the battery immediately, then break the phone down as much as you can.

Sabre

Yep, Don't be afraid to break em down. A small screwdriver and going slow when you pop the plastic pieces apart so you don't break off (anymore than you have to at least, a few won't hurt) any of the little snappy bits. Unplug any unplugable connections and dry inside the sockets.

Cotton swabs to blot and dry out work well and then leave it all open somewhere warm to dry out for a day or two.

I have taken my phones swimming a painful number of times and have saved them for months more use. I salvaged the spouse's blackberry after a (unplanned) dip in the pool. (who expects someone to be wearing their blackberry in their SWIM TRUNKS? sheesh...)

They can be tougher than you would expect.

But the lanyard and waterproof bag as preventative measures is prolly the best bet ; -)